Hard Work and Never being Happier

It was a Tuesday morning.

After months of planning and I think I was more nervous than standing on the start line at the World Championships a couple of months previously. The time was finally upon us. It was time to tell my story to the entire country, a story that had an impact I never dreamt it could. Responses came in from friends and family, people I had never met, in countries I'd never visited. 

I was overwhelmed. That morning I tore round training, adrenalin was pumping as I knew whilst I was out training my "coming out story" was going out to the nation on the Victoria Derbyshire Show on the BBC. 

For most of that day my phone didn't stop, social media went crazy and I laid with my head in a pillow waiting for it all to go away. I had no idea it wouldn't and that the follow up interest was crazy. From newspapers, to radio interviews in USA, appearances in Hamburg and even nude charity shoots in London. There are so many people I have to thank, to list them would be wrong. However, there is one special person, who requested to be involved my story despite only just recovering from a very traumatic personal period in her life, that is of course the brilliant Victoria Derbyshire. So thank you Victoria, for caring so much and helping tell the story the way I wanted to. 

The whole thing was meant to give me the opportunity to put the news out there, it was never there to be any sort of major sport story. I wanted to get it out in the public well before the Olympics, as it wasn't something I wanted to be a distraction if it were to be leaked prior to the Rio Games next summer. I said in the interview it wouldn't change my life, and personally it hasn't. I've always had a supportive family, partner, training group and friends. Which is why it was so easy for me to come to the decision to speak publicly about my sexuality. However, it feels that everyone else has inspired me, with their stories, their supportive words and the interest in me personally and following my sporting endeavours. I will use this and put it all towards a great performance every time I step onto the track, as I think that is the only right way to thank everyone for all the love and kindness I have received.

Thank you for your support! 

Even to those who responded on social media saying "this isn't a story" you are right, we just need the rest of the world to see that! Then everyone in sport can try and live an open, happy life and no one needs to speak publicly about something which is so personal.
But it got a lot of attention still today, which must be very intimidating for so many who are contemplating living openly and being happy with whom ever they love.
So I am truly honoured and it made me very emotional (see my thank you video) to hear that it reached so many people and helped even just a few, that was a major bonus! I now want to become 'just' another gay athlete as this soon will not be a news worthy story. 

I want to inspire more with my performances to come, especially next summer in Rio, and the following summer of 2017 at the London World Championships. 

So that brings me onto the really important stuff, training!

Including a bit of biomechanics fun at Leeds Beckett University back in November...

The last few months have been building up nicely. My first big block of work finished at the end of November and it was a great few weeks of work. I then started my second big block a few days into December and smashed through to possibly a PB week for December, big mileage and strong speed! 

 

Also this year I was privileged enough to make it onto the World Class Performance Plan, or as many of you know it Lottery Funding. So a big thank you to British Athletics for the recognition of my hard work and believing what I believe, that I am going to continue to develop right to the front of the pack, and push towards a medal. I wasn't happy with 24th in the World this year and they way my training has been going along with my 100% focus every day on Rio I certainly will be moving forwards next season. 

Having had some interest from kit manufacturers this season, still no one has shown much interest in me representing their brand. I mean what am I doing wrong am I not a good role model, am I not interesting enough? I'll just have to go out next year, smash more National records and get more Olympic Qualifying times and then destroy it in Rio. I love to use this sort of thing as pure motivation!!! 

I have started using snapchat now, well trying any way. So you can follow me on that, just search my username - tbosworth5. I also finished my Christmas present wrapping this afternoon, so all I can say now from a very organised Tom and a Tom that has never been happier, is Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and I hope to inspire you all into the Olympic year!! 

#TomWalksFast

TomBosworth.com

Twitter @TomBosworth

Facebook

IAAF World Championships Adventure

Its almost over.

Beijing World Athletics Championships is something I have worked towards for many years. From the moment I didn't make the team for Moscow 2013, I vowed to never miss a championships again. Since then I haven't. All that was purely down to commitment. If you were to take a look at my training from the last two years it would be like I was different athlete. Thats because the dream of competing at these championships and not coming last was becoming a reality and there is still so much I can do to improve. That is the most exciting thing.

Lets get the important bit out of the way first... The race. Wow! My first World Championships. It felt like any other races, same faces, hot conditions but we were stood on the start line in the Bird Nest Stadium in Beijing. At no point did it over power me, nor did I feel out of place. I knew I deserved to be there and this was a massive opportunity. I started off and purposely went to the back, I knew it could be messy in the first few laps as we had to do the first kilometre inside the stadium. So I let that pan out, the pace was still quick enough, infact it was perfect. After 3 and half laps of the track we headed out of the stadium, this is when I planned to make an early move. I moved up half the field as we made our way out to the 1k loop on the road outside of the stadium. I felt terrible. I didn't feel comfortable, I felt sick and thought this was going to be a very long day!

As I settled though the pace was fast. But it felt easy. I started to not only feel good, but I felt great! I felt in the form of my life. I played it safe, till 5k hitting it in about 20:25, so not as safe as I thought, but it still felt so easy. I just kept pulling out the laps, on a course which I really loved as it felt so quick. I hit 10k in 40:44 and reassessed the situation, I checked all my indicators, legs - great, pace - strong, stomach - settled, temperature - ok, head - focused. I knew as I hit 12k that the K's were going to be tough at this point and they were. I dropped a little bit of pace, but nothing drastic I stayed calm and really pushed on. I made it to 14k still well under PB National record pace and started to believe that this could be a very special day. I gritted my teeth and pushed on.


Then nothing. My legs stopped turning, my drive disappeared and sharp pains just started shooting through my legs. I felt strong but the sun was beating down on my neck at this point. I felt energy disappearing from my body as I took each step. The wheels really did come off. I was so angry with my self that I pushed on and on. But I had nothing left. The sun allowed a fast 15k but the final 5k it punished me. I was relieved to finish. I was so distraught to see the time of 1:23:58. Well over 22mins for the final 5k.

Gutted, I lay on the track trying not to cry. I got up and knew I'd have to speak with the BBC but didn't want to. I just told my self see the positives.

I know now though that the pace was fast and the great thing was it felt so easy. I'm still young in the event and I plan to train harder than ever before going into the Olympic year. Soon I will be able to hold that pace, even in those conditions all the way to the end. I also clinched my third Olympic Games qualifying time, as well as going from ranked 42nd to finishing 24th! I also was the 8th European Athlete to finish, moving up 4 places from last years 12th at the Europeans in Zurich. So there were some positives and obvious development. It has shown just how far I have come, that I can finish 24th at Worlds and be disappointed.

It took me 4 days to recover before I was able to do much, so I have no doubt I gave it 100% on race day and would like to dedicate my first World Championships to my coach of 6 years Andi Drake who was unable to be here in Beijing. A very big thank you also needs to go to the man who put up with the teenage Tom and got me into race walking... Peter Selby Tonbridge AC race walking coach. The man deserves a knighthood for his dedication to me and the event.



I have been able to enjoy my self since. I started off at Beijing Zoo with Meghan Beesley, then did some sight seeing, risked my life on a scooter with Michael Rimmer and Kyle Langford at the Silk Street market and then headed to the Great Wall and Summer Palace with Laura Muir and Coach Andy Young.



















I also commentated on EuroSport on Friday and Saturday's morning sessions, talking walking during the Women's 20k and Men's 50k.




A lot of the time you don't have the opportunity to get to see much of the places you travel to. This time I was lucky enough to have an entire week to sight see and watch the awesome athletics!







 Overall I've experienced a lot. The race taught me so much to take into future championships. There are plenty of things for me to work on and hopefully the support from British Athletics will continue to grow so I continue to show my worth on the international stage.
I dreamt of making a World Championships and have done it, I'm now also only months away from fulfilling my Olympic dream assuming all goes to plan. However, these dreams have started to change and develop into ones of winning international races and medals. For the first time in my career the final pieces of the puzzle lay in front of me. I was able to see what the difference was between finishing 1st and finishing 24th. It will soon be time to head home and get back to Leeds, recover, and put together my plan to take me further up the field. The next two years are big in my development and by London World Championships in 2017 I see that as the start of many years of racing at the front of the pack fighting for medals.

I can't thank everyone enough for all your kind words, but 24th is not good enough and you can trust me when I say I will work harder and become better than I ever have before over this next winter.

My season isn't quite finished with another 20k on Sunday 6th September in the Isle of Man, followed by a return to China for the IAAF race walking tour, 4 days of racing!

Japan was a beautiful, China was... interesting, but 2016 will be outstanding.


#TomWalksFast

tombosworth.com
Twitter - @TomBosworth
Tom Bosworth - Facebook
Instagram

World Athletics Championships - The final steps

One week to go!

An athlete trains their guts out week in week out to make a major championships. The pinnacle of their sport making those brutal winter sessions and long periods away from home all worth it. Always leave it in your hands, never allow a shred of doubt to enter any one's mind - you're good enough to compete against the best - end of!

- Watch my 'One Week To Go' video! -

For years I dreamt of making a World Championships and over the last 3 it has become more and more real. Now it is and I'm a week out from the biggest race of my life am I nervous? No, I'm just training and preparing as normal like it was any other meet. The emotions and anticipation have started to build as they would normally, can't say any less than its all going to plan.

Up here in Gifu, Japan I've had wonderful support from British Athletics support staff and other coaches as my personal coach was unable to make it out here to the altitude camp. Physio Cat has kept me in one piece, as well as the help in training which has been perfect!
I had brilliant company and drinks man Steve Cram on the bike with me a few times as well as the best pace maker on the track Captain Kate Spilsbury! - Kate did a great job on the track, it was just a shame how she tried to drive me and other athletes off the side of the mountain on numerous occasions, we can't all be perfect I guess!

As well as the support the team also really embraced race walking which as you all well know I have been fighting for a long time now to be closer to main stream athletics in the UK.








Jenny Meadows felt she could be a good walker, and decided to give it a go. She literally picked it up at the firs attempt and we battled it out in a race walk off!

Tom vs Jenny - Race Walk Off! 

Training at altitude can be tough but ensuring an easy start will allow you to fit into normal training soon enough and I was able to smash out some PB sessions up the mountain. It also helps to have such quality training partners in the GB team, well they weren't really training partners for me more just brilliant motivation to be training on the track at the same time as these guys tearing it up round the track. Race Walking couldn't have been more in the middle of British Athletics!

Charlie Grice post track session

Me and Mo after training

Great news is that the race looks like it will be on BBC 2 at 1:30am (UK time) on Sunday 23rd August. I'll have to put in a big performance and it is also the second day of the women's heptathlon and I hear we have a few talented athletes in that! 

Don't expect to hear much from me in in race week I like to keep to my self in the final few days as well as China have blocks on Facebook and Twitter (@TomBosworth) You can always keep an eye on my website, TomBosworth.com Make sure you use #TomWalksFast. 

Now is a perfect time to thank you all for your support in getting me this far. I am truly thankful and it would mean a lot less to be here without the support from my amazing Family and Friends as well as all the Athletics fans around the world. Thank you! 

I'm soon to be Beijing bound - let the next leg of my journey be a successful as this!

All the best from me on the volcano in the clouds.

#TomWalksFast

IAAF World Championships Preparation

It was a great day back in June after I won the 20k trial in Bedford for the World Championships in Beijing this summer. I had ticked all the boxes and gained automatic qualification to my first ever World Champs. It didn't feel real until I saw the Team Sheet with my name on it, it finally sunk in that I had reached the highest level of competition and was given this opportunity to represent my country.
Over the last few years I have moved on a significant amount, ticking off the Championships as I go, starting with Commonwealth Games, then European Championships and now World Championships, there is just one more to go, but that can wait till next summer.

The final few weeks training in Leeds went well, with a great final week full of quality walks and tempo sessions before I jumped on to plane to travel to the altitude camp in Japan.
Im coming to the end of the first week of training up the mountain and to say its been up and down is an understatement.
My self and Laura Weightman were the first competing athletes to head out along with the wonderful support staff and training partner for most of the runners, Adam Clarke. Nice little group of us who were quickly joined by others, with more coming in over the next week.
Finding flat places for me to train up the mountain was slightly trickier than first planned with one of my first sessions being one of the hilliest I've ever done! Up and down it most certainly was. We tried another loop the following evening, there seemed to be quite a bit of up and some very steep downs to that as well.
No need to panic though, as we soon started to find a few flat loops and I have been able to race walk some quality, yet cautious sessions. - as you can't go all out in training for the first few days at altitude, otherwise you'll end up a slightly exhausted athlete.

The views up here are stunning, the sky at night is full of stars, plus there is a huge telescope on top of the hotel which we all went up to have a little look at. Turned out we could see Saturn, it was stunning as we were able to see through the telescope Saturn's rings and a few of its moons, incredible!

The hotel staff and local sporting governing bodies, plus a few handy translators, have been fantastic. They have been happy to help with everything and have made sure we are well looked after and are so friendly. They did seem to get very excited when myself and Laura had a post session ice bath (paddling pool);

The last couple of days the clouds have lifted and there have been some totally stunning views from up here. We are able to see the slightly unnerving volcano behind us, as well as the beautiful mountains and views. It is times like these which you realise how lucky we are to get to travel the world and see these stunning places. 

                     

The top athletics track is hidden away on the 

mountain side and is a stunning place to train. Plenty of Japanese kids doing athletics in their summer holidays is a great sight to see. 

                    
I'm not a fan of a lot of training on the track, but with this back drop it certainly makes it slightly more enjoyable.






The travel and time difference made it a tough first few days, but no ones training suffered, it just meant the body didn't always want to sleep at night as it was still tuned into the time at home. That took a few days to pass and now everyone has settled in to Japanese time, which will be a big advantage when it comes to traveling into Beijing.

Big thanks to SOSRehydrate for supporting me with important tools in staying hydrated, which is key at altitude and has been crucial in helping to acclimatise.

Perks of the Job -


Thats where we are at as of the moment, time to put in some strong training over these final weeks before heading down and taking on the world on August 23rd.

Will update again once I've smashed out some quality sessions.
Sending my thanks to everyone for the kind words on my selection from somewhere up a mountain in the clouds.

Dancing My Way to A National Record!

Sunday's British Athletics Championships couldn't have gone much better... well unless I had dipped across the line and walked 18:59!!
As is often the case with shorter races in my season, we do not taper down training for them. So often I go into these races fatigued. Sunday's 5k was the same as usual, so I planned to secure the win and try and get as close to my PB and the old National 5k record I set at these championships last year.

So I set off at National record pace and just hoped I could hold it. I found the going pretty easy and had to check my watch to make sure I was actually going the speed I thought and the track clock was actually correct... which it was! By 4k my legs were starting to scream at me, but I knew I had only a couple of laps to go, and was on for the record, but only just.
I thought to my self this pain will only be worth it if I get a PB and these last two laps will fly by, now stop thinking about it and just go for it! I moved from 5th to 6th gear, walking my last kilometre in 3:38!! Smashing my PB and old record by nearly 16 seconds! I couldn't believe it, but I more couldn't believe I walked 19:00, not 18:59! #Plonker!

It was an awesome experience, as per usual the Birmingham crowd got right behind me and dragged me through those last few tough laps. I really can't thank them enough! I have had such wonderful messages on social media. Thank you all!
Meeting some of you afterwards was awesome too...

I work hard each and every day in training, making my technique as smooth and reliable as I can. All those long hours in the winter are worth it for days like these and I love moving the event forward with performances like Sunday's, Race Walking even got on the BBC, and was part of the 6 Top Performances package! Watch here... BBC Top 6 Performances
THANK YOU BBC!!! All the media coverage really means so much to me.

I also hit 1,000 twitter followers over the weekend! So a big thank you to every one who is following my journey to the World championships in Beijing and beyond. And if you're not already, (shame!) follow me now! @TomBosworth

Now as I've crossed the line I have started to celebrate in quite an iconic way... all in the name of sport! To get you all talking about race walking, I tend to do a celebratory dance! It worked, because after the race thats all I was asked about was the dancing!! So I hope you all enjoyed it, because I love winning, setting records and inspiring! It's why I do athletics.

Photo credit: Adrian Royle

I am dedicating this race to my fantastic support team and more importantly to my coach of the last 6years who has battled with me right by my side through the victory's and the defeats of sport. I can't Thank my coach Andi Drake enough for his time and dedication, this National Record's for you Andi! 

I've now smashed the 5k and 10k British record, as well as setting a British Best for the 1mile road, race walk, in a time of 6:01 just four days before the 5k! I feel in fabulous form and can't wait to make every one proud again in China at Worlds, where if conditions allow it I don't see why I can't put in a PB performance and challenge the best in the World! 

2015 really is the year of the Race Walk! Make sure you keep up to date by liking my face book page or by visiting my website TomBosworth.com 

My next blog will come from somewhere in Japan before flying into Beijing for the World Championships. Please keep supporting me in my athletic adventures, I love hearing from every single one of you! 

Thanks for reading. 

#TomWalksFast

European Cup Race Walking, 2015 - Murcia.

I'm writing the first half of this blog the day before the race, the other half will be finished off once I have recovered!

I've spent the last two weeks back in Torrevieja training in the same place as my winter camp from earlier this year. It was quite a bit warmer over these last two weeks than it was back in February, it got up to 38C towards the end of the camp.
I was joined by an Australian walker Rhydian Cowley, who is over in Europe preparing to race searching for the World Championships Qualifying time. He was the perfect training partner, similar training patterns and he didn't have a race to focus on immediately.
We trained early, then recovered in the swimming pool - tough life!

After two weeks in Torrevieja we headed back to Alicante airport to meet up with the rest of the British team when they arrived in Spain then headed to Murcia with them. This will be my 4th European Cup for Great Britain, it's special to me as this was the competition I debuted at in 2009 as a Junior athlete, over 10k. My self and Jo Atkinson (Women's 20k) are the only athletes left from my original team.
The GB Team for the Cup looks like this:

Jo Atkinson (20k), Emma Achurch (10k), Me!, Callum Wilkinson (10k), Guy Thomas (10k), Cameron Corbishley (10k)

This time around I go into the European Cup with almost perfect preparation, the fittest I've ever been. The main aim this time is to back up last season's 12th place finish at the European Championships, in Zurich. I hope to once again be up the front of the race, being competitive as I was in Lugano back in March. The heat is going to play a major part, but having visited the course with the team I feel confident that the heat actually won't be too much of a problem as there is plenty of shade on the course, with very little of it in direct sunlight come 5pm Sunday. Keeping my self busy on Sunday will be key, I hate just sitting round over thinking everything.

My target the 20k race is to bag another 1:24:00 qualifying time for both Beijing, World championships this summer and the all important Olympic Games next summer in Rio, as well as placing as close to the top 10 as possible. So from here I leave you and will complete this once I've walked my self 20k. Here's to a top result, I can feel it in my legs!!

Ok so that hurt!

Finishing off just under the World and Olympic qualifying time of 1:24:00 in 16th place.

After what felt like a sluggish start my first 5k split was ok at 20:54. My plan was to start steady and up the pace. So I decided to do as planned, hitting 10k in around 41:30, the next 5k though I struggled with my legs hurting and my body aching I had stopped closing on the group ahead. At this point I was in 27th, but was struggling. Feeling very flat at the start of the race is possibly going two months since racing properly, which usually I do not do at this point in the season. I had done a lot of training over the last two months, so perhaps that sharpness I usually have wasn't there, however, in the long run it will put me in great shape for Beijing World Championships in August.

By 15k I was in 22nd place, slowly taking a few places. Then at 16.5k the leader, European Champion from Zurich last year, Lopez, caught me over the 1k lap and went to lap me. I decided why not to try and stick with him and see if he can drag me along. Not only did I stick by him, I actually unlapped myself which then moved me on through the pack. I ended up pushing away from Lopez. This gave me great confidence to be able to out walk the leader in the last few kilometres. That missing sharpness turned up just in time! I know for the World Championships I will be more competitive. 

Lopez and my self walking together in the last few k's.

That final 5k was approximately 20:40, my second fastest 5k split of the entire race. By hitching a lift with Lopez he pulled me along to 16th place, taking 6 more places and finishing in a much more respectable position! I ticked the boxes of my 2nd Rio Olympics time, and my 5th World Champs time! So I can't complain, especially when I couldn't execute the perfect race strategy with the pace I hoped.

After the team were able to celebrate some great performances and even the athletes who were disappointed by their own performances still cheered on and supported those who's races went to plan. Which made this GB team a great team to be part of. Standout junior Callum Wilkinson in the 10k walked European Junior qualifying time (43:00) with eleven seconds to spare with a new PB of 42:49 for 12th place. He was followed home in 17th by second British junior male and my Tonbridge AC teammate Guy Thomas also in a massive PB of 43:44. Meaning the British Junior Boys team finished in a record high of 6th place! Amazing work from those guys, with Cameron Corbishley in the mix, all year the three of those boys have bettered each other, moving them all on to great levels of performance! Well done lads! With my Olympic and World Champs qualifying times and Callum's European U20 time, 2 PB's it made for a great weekend. And even though Jo Atkinson in the 20k and Emma Achurch in the 10k (Emma all ready had the European U20 time) struggled in the race they both finished and refused to let the race get the better of them which a lot of other athletes would do. We proved to be a resilient team!
Thanks also to team staff, Andi Drake, Verity Snook and Alex O'Gorman for their support. We can't get the best from our own races without a strong support team behind us!

Verity Snook, Emma Achurch, Jo Atkinson, Me, Callum Wilkinson, Guy Thomas, Cam Corbishley, Alex O'Gorman, Andi Drake.

What a great trip! Time now for some relaxing at home, drinking coffee and playing Fifa! Then next week it's back on it, as we build up to the World Champs 20k Trial in June, hopefully confirming my place in the team for the Worlds in August.

Keep up to date with me, via Twitter @TomBosworth or like my Facebook Page!
For more information visit my awesome website, TomBosworth.com

Thats it for now, till my next adventure, be your self, or even why not try to better your self. And remember enjoy your self because before Part B there is always a Part-AYYYY!!!

#TomWalksFast

Crazy Spring Training

Spring training, it was the perfect opportunity to get another big block of work in between Lugano 20k and the European Cup on the 17th May.
That was the plan any way.

After a solid performance in Lugano, I had a slightly lighter period of training to allow my self some recovery time from all the races. We decided not to do another more international 20k's this spring to allow my self a big block of training, to raise my fitness to the next level. By the beginning of April I was back in the swing of things ready to put in 6 big weeks of training. However, life sometimes gets in the way and I had the first disrupted weeks of training of the year. Little niggling pains and a very random cold meant I didn't get the most out of those first two weeks of training and, because I over think everything, I panicked thinking my season was doomed!!

Of course this is just any athlete always thinking the worse and after a week at home where I put in a decent week of work I was feeling far better. That week finished off with the British Athletics National 20k. I was not targeting this as a race, but planned to use it as a tempo session and do just enough to win. In the end my training pace was still enough for me to win the race by over 10 minutes. Which is slightly disappointing in terms of depth in British walking. However, with a strong group of juniors walking 10k on the day, and a few others having bad races for one reason or another, was it not for that my victory would have been much closer than it was.
I was happy with my time of 1:29:16, as that was my second 20k session in 3 days, both in the exact same time. A real indication that I am in fine form, after all 1:29:00 was my PB in 2011, now its my training pace! I was also very proud to lift the National trophy for the fourth time in my career. I hope to better the current record number of wins which stands at 6, by the end of my career.

I started off strongly and maintained my pace throughout the race, I even had the chance to enjoy my training session and make the most of the winning feeling!

Having done a total of 25k that morning (I did 5k before the race) I was pretty relieved when it was over, as I had put away the first big week of training since Lugano and my legs were feeling it. However, I still had time to do my celebratory victory dance as you can see above.

Getting my hands on the trophy again along with another British gold medal was a nice way to round off all the racing I had done through March and April.

This week of decent milage and high quality work was a springboard back into form and I truly felt back on track. I went on to clock another couple of big weeks of training from that meaning April ended up being a decent month of work, which we hoped for. Panic over!
The fatigue was building up from all the big tempo work we doing, and despite some painful sessions I didn't let the fatigue stop me and my resilience really showed through. It hurt a lot!! - as you can see here... #PainFace




Next week I head back to Torrevieja where I spent a month training back in February to prepare for my next race. It is close by to Murcia where the European Race Walking Cup is being held on the 17th May.
You can see the full GB team for the Euro Cup here... European Cup GB Team. This will be my fourth European Cup, I made my GB debut at this championships in 2009, in the Junior boys 10k, so it's pretty special to me.

It could be a bit of brutal race if its a very hot day, so it's important to have the exposure and I please to have the opportunity to head back to Torrevieja two weeks prior to help my preparation for the race. I hope to back up my 12th place finish from last years European Athletics Championships in Zurich in Murcia next month.

On a slightly more serious note, a couple of European race walkers recently have failed drugs tests and both admitted to cheating. I have been asked my stance on this. My stance is not up for debate, I have been asked a question so here is my answer. If you fail a test, serve your ban, return to athletics if you wish, but with a life ban on international competition, no exceptions, the same rule for everyone. Its the athletes own responsibility to know what they put in there body, there are many aids to help the athletes, e.g. the WADA app. That does not mean companies do not have a responsibility with their products. But if you have any doubt on a product, especially with supplements don't use it. I'm not sure why a healthy athlete would use them any way, the risk of cross contamination is high and there is always a far better, natural source of the supplement they are using.
Thats got that off my chest!

I'll update you all if a few weeks from Spain with my final preparations for the European Cup. I'll also let you know if I've got a tan of any kind. Fingers crossed.

For more information on me head to TomBosworth.com
You can follow me on Twitter @TomBosworth or like my Facebook Page.

#TomWalksFast

PB's, British Records and Worn Out Trainers

Since opening my season 4 weeks ago at the British Athletics Indoor champs in Sheffield, my season has been gaining momentum and that doesn't look like stopping any time soon.

Two weeks after the Indoor championships, I raced at Coventry at the Molly Barnett 10k open race walk. I set my 10k PB there in 2014 of 40:19, the second fastest time in British history. This time around I was determined to set a new 10k British record to go with my 5k record. 

It was a pretty nasty day in Coventry with the rain falling and wind blowing making it tricky racing conditions. However, the wind stopped just before the race and the rain made for good racing conditions and focused into my warm up. Focusing on my drills after an easy 15minutes of walking normally gets me focused.  I did some strides and thought to my self, I feel like crap. How am I going to walk 10k?! Just start and see how it goes, all I need is to show form to get selected to race for England in two weeks at the Lugano EAA race walking permit race. 

I set off steady and walked a 4:04 first kilometre. Knowing I had to walk under 4:02's average to get the record I was very happy. I then picked up the pace to constantly under 4minutes. At 5k my split was 19:44, I was feeling good but the speed was starting to really hurt my legs. My stomach was struggling to deal with the intensity of the walk and at about 7k I was feeling very sick. I knew I just had to cruise the last 3k and could still get the record, but I pushed on as I did't want to leave anything to chance. I crossed the finish line in a new British record time of 39:36 and became the first British man to go under 40mins after a slightly slower second half. 

Winning and setting a new 10k British Record, 39:36.

The race took everything out of me and the next 48 hours I was a zombie. I had no energy and felt like I could sleep for a week! I couldn't really celebrate the victory or the record as focus had changed to the race two weeks later in Lugano, my first 20k of 2015. 20k is the international distance so this race really is the first major target for 2015. I received a lot of support after the race as many athletes on twitter congratulated me and were amazed I could walk under 40mins for 10k, when they can't even run that fast. These kind of performances will help to move the event on in the UK in 2015, and get it the respect It deserves. 

I believed I could smash the 20k British Record in Lugano and went into the race very confident. I started the race at a steady pace, however, I found my self in 3rd place at 5k, and was feeling great. I was well under British record pace at this point. I knew 4:06 average k's would see me walk under the British record of 1:22:03, my PB was 1:22:20 for 2014. Last year in Lugano I finished 21st due to illness before the race, so as I moved into the second half of the race I was excited to be in the bronze medal position a new experience for me. My 10k split was 40:45, a little quick but I was happy and after a little spirt I had moved up to 2nd place, behind the 50k and former 20k World Record holder Yohann Diniz! Diniz's World 20k record had been broken over night! So he set off at record pace (literally) to try and get it back, but was unable to, despite setting a time of 1:17:24 just a week after he set his PB (former WR) 1:17:02. The new world record is 1:16:36 set by Japanese walker Suzuki. 

I held onto 2nd place from 13k to 16k, but then my stomach caused my problems again and fatigue struck my right leg causing me a lot of pain. The next 4k was slow and I slipped off British record pace and down 4th place in the race. After a battle with a Greek athlete in the last two k, I managed to hang on for 4th place missing out on a medal and British record by 30seconds. However, I was only 13 seconds off my PB. My final time of 1:22:33 was my 4th time under the World Championships qualifying time so I had achieved my main goal, but was very disappointed to have missed the record. 

Here I am in the lead pack early on in the race.

7 - Me! 2 - Caio Bonfim ended up in 3rd place, 3 - Kevin Campion ended up finishing 11th.

A slightly disappointed me as I crossed the finish line for 4th place.

The England team was full of quality this year. We had 5 athletes qualify for the European Race Walking Cup, I qualified for the World Athletics championships and Emma Achurch (junior girls 10k) walked the European Junior time. Quality all round.

Here is me and junior 10k male Callum Wilkinson, one of the brightest young talents race walking has in the UK, looking awesome in our sunglasses! Callum has a PB of 44minutes for 10k and will be looking to qualify this spring for his GB debut at the European Cup.

The week of the race I had a major shoe problem and was forced to ditch my current shoe for an older version as it was causing me ankle pain and was unable to train. It was very strange, as the older version of the same shoe was fine. It was missing most of the sole as it had done many miles of training, see for your self below...

So now I have a few easy days, despite feeling fine to get straight back to training I know how important a rest is, mentally if not physically. My quick recovery just shows my fitness, how it has moved on a level this year. Many athletes are never happy after a good performance if it doesn't go perfectly and that is how I am feeling this week. Despite getting the 20k British Athletics qualifying times for the World Athletics championships in Beijing (1:24:00) and the Race Walking European Cup (1:27:00), I am still frustrated by missing the record time. I feel I could race again next week, but that would be crazy, having some control and patience in a situation like this is key. The season is long and I want to be able to be competing up the front of the race in Beijing in August. 

I now have another block of training before the European Cup in Murcia, Spain, for GB, however, may use some races in the UK as training races. It's always good practice to race, even if you are only using it for training and I enjoy supporting the home events. 

For more information on my adventures you can follow me on twitter @TomBosworth or Instagram TomBosworth or keep up to date on my website, tombosworth.com Keep any eye out for a big announcement next week!! 

I am constantly looking for sponsors as I am currently not funded this year to allow me to train full time, so please get in contact through the website if you are interested in supporting me. 

Thanks for readying, get inspired to better my 10k PB, and run under 40mins! Use it as inspiration to get out the door this spring.